Liveblog: Olympic Games, Game 2: Canada 6, Austria 0

Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban, who was a healthy scratch for Team Canada’s 3-1 win over Norway in its Olympic opener Thursday, was in the lineup Friday when Canada beat Austria 6-0.

Dan Hamhuis sat out to make room for Subban on the blue line. Forward Matt Duchene, who was a healthy scratch against Norway, was in the lineup against Austria, while Patrick Sharp sat out. Subban had 11:41 of ice time, the least of Canada’s seven defencemen, and didn’t pick up any points.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price, who earned the victory against Norway, was a healthy scratch against Austria, with Roberto Luongo posting the shutout and Mike Smith filling the backup role.

Canada led 2-0 after the first period on goals from defencemen Drew Doughty and Shea Weber. Jeff Carter scored three goals in the second period for a natural hat-trick, followed by a goal from Ryan Getzlaf. There were no goals in the third period. Canada outshot Austria 46-23.

The Postmedia News live game blog was up and running with HIO’s Mike Boone joining other hockey writers from the chain. Boone will be blogging live during every Team Canada game at the Olympics. Canada’s final preliminary-round game is at noon ET Sunday against Finland.

what game are you watching? he made an easy stop on a very slow backhand and had a rebound that was utterly terrible , an example on how he has not been that good,Canada is killing aust thats the only reason Lou looks good at all

Look at the way Sweden capitalized on a rebound for its goal in a 1-0 victory over Switzerland. Then look at the rebounds Luongo gave up compared to Price. A team more adept than Austria will take advantage of the slightest chance presented by rebounds.

Precisely, Timo. Racism among people who wield some kind of power these days is mostly very subtle, not overt. It mostly affects decisions where there is a good deal of discretion in the decision-maker, who is thus able to hide racism behind other explanations for the decision. I see so much racism on the web and hear so much of it when I’m among white people that it sickens me. I have shared my life for nearly a quarter of a century with an African-American woman.

Regarding the backlash on PK’s ice time. I tried to look up Drew Doughty’s ice time in 2010. Could not find it anywhere. I did find a stat saying that had a total of 19 shifts over 7 games. I do not know if this is true or not, but if it is, that does not sound like a lot of ice time either for Doughty’s first go around at the Olympics. I love PK as much as any other Hab fan, but were we really expecting him to play a massive role in these Olympics? Look at their whole defensive corps. He is not the best out of them…

Canada’s players still are not taking full advantage of the increased width of the ice surface through their superior skating. They are still playing a narrow, press ahead game. Once they do become accustomed to it, if ever, we ought to see more lateral movement creating space for teammates and the occasional killer pass. P.K. Subban is the one player who, let loose, would exploit the wider ice surface. But in this game the Canadians don’t need anything more; they’re simply overpowering the Austrians.

grrrr stupid cell coverage in this building sucks…the TV keeps freezing..so I have to listen to it on the radio..what am I missing..these guys are gushing over PK..says Babcock is nuts if he does not keep him playing…not so much for Price…

PK’s ice time is horseshi!t especially considering how much ice time Hamhuis got last night. Babcock is a class A ahole and I don’t wish him and kind of success in this tournament. Perhaps an errant puck can end the Olympics for him.

Ya, Dips they aren’t playing him cause they don’t like him or maybe cause he is black. That is total BS. They aren’t playing him a lot cause there are 3 better right handed dmen. If he was a lefty he would be top 6 even top 4.

could not have said it better …. Imagine if Sweden did the same to Karlsson …their styles are similar I’d say
Another concern is Bobby Loo is looking pretty steady …the goal that Price failed to stop ( regardless of whose fault ) may haunt him . It just seems Carey has this thing about makes great saves and then some how he lets a questionable one in . I hope I don’t take to much heat for this thought…remember it was Babcock who said ..their resume means a lot !

Here’s understanding what you are saying, but this isn’t NFL football where a team can run out the clock.
These guys are all competitors where scoring goals has been all they know in their lives.
It may be hard to put a leash on that.

Don’t worry about Cherry. His constituency is the same 45% of Torontonians that would re-elect Rofo. The bigger issue for me is why these folks get to vote in the first place. Makes for a scary future!

Here’s what I see, Team Canada is playing with a little more jump than yesterday because the competition is a little more experienced. Yesterday, and to some extent today, they are pulling their shots so they do not kill someone on the ice. Against Norway they absorbed a lot of crap because they really couldn’t go all out without sending guys to the hospital. This will probably end against Finland.

Ice is terrible it’s the 3rd game of the day over there and seems really warm. The puck throws up snow when it goes into the corners.

PK looks OK —better than the 2 Blues but we need more time to see where he fits. Weber and Doughty do not look like they are even sweating and Kieth is kind of invisible but in a real good way.

Not soon enough. I’ve hated that Cherry’s become an icon in Canada. He’s a bleeping 1950s-minded dork. And his co-idiot is just another deer caught in the headlights that doesn’t stand up to him and just goes along for the stupid ride.

It really is unfortunate how diminished the star-power has already become at this tournament: Steven Stamkos, Marian Gaborik, Mikko Koivu, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen, Lubomir Visnovsky and Henrik Sedin are now joined by Henrik Zetterberg on the sidelines.

Sweden is really taking a beating: losing Franzen, Sedin and Zetterberg up front makes it a pretty tall order for them to win the gold medal this year.

The Slovaks have also been pummelled: they lost three of the defencemen originally named to their team coming into the tournament, so it is a real patch-work for them.

I should apologize for Habscentric parochialism. I tended to look closely at Carey Price yesterday and will be preoccupied by P.K. Subban today. Traikos will be similarly focused on Team Canada’s Leafs. Oh.
by mike.boone 11:48 AM

The bigger problem with the international ice is that players that are sometimes prone to drifting out of position to throw a big check (and Subban fits that description) end up being punished even more on the big ice. That extra 7.5 feet might as well be a mile if you miss or a teammate of your opponent picks up the puck while you are picking yourself off the ice near the boards.

I suspect the Canadian coaching staff has warned the Canadian players of the dangers of being overly exuberant when it comes to physical play. Hockey is a much less physical game on international ice.

That shouldn’t be the case as much anymore though as open ice hitting is almost obsolete. In a standard game 90-95 percent of hits nowadays happen against the boards. Since the game has become so much a game of mistakes vacating your position to make a it is very much frowned upon anymore. You normally only see it if there is plenty of support both behind and in front of the hitter. For instance if an attack is outnumberd..ie 2 guys attakcing 3 then a guy like Emelin may step up. 2 on 2…which used to be a itting situation would be delendant on whot eh 5th man is and therir position relative to the pcuk.

Yeah, but Subban LOOKS for those rear-end hits out near the blue-line. He likes to paste people at the boards and/or force them to think he’s going to do it to cause offsides.

Stepping up for a board hit at the blue line in international hockey is dangerous because you really tend to drift out of position, and the shorter offensive zone means you have less time to catch up to a player if you are deked. The defencemen always have the toughest time adjusting to international ice because their angles really change.

It is a catch 22 for the d…the cloiser blueline means they must have a tighter gap….but at the same time the extra width allows for an easier wide entry so they definitely need to adjust their games. OFten wingers cme thourhg the neutral zone absolutely flying….this is a big reason the international game is so trap suited…full speed attacks are very dangerous and the best of dmen can be beat…even those who are used to the international ice

on pp advantage as he will have more room to get off hs one timer. At 5 on 5 there is actually less room in the offensive zone…so on one hand there is more room for him to carry the puck if tha opportunity comes within the flow of the game…but inside the blueline it is more limiting re shots fromthe middle…but there is more room where the blueline meets the oards. So if a guy like PK were accustomed to it and were given the green light he could be dangerous coming down the wall…but I doubt he sdoes that in this role.

We’ve seen supposedly unbeatable teams go down to defeat in 7 game defeats. Montreal’s last two Stanley Cup victories are proof of that: nobody though the 1986 Oilers could be beat in a 7-game series, but they were. And nobody believed that 1993 Penguins could be beaten in a 7-game series with a healthy Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Rich Tocchet and Kevin Stevens. But the Islanders pulled it off.

Team Canada is absolutely beatable in a 7-game series against the likes of Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, the United States or Russia. I don’t think the Swiss or Slovaks could do it, but stranger things have happened.

Canada would enter any series as the favourite. But they are beatable. The win-or-go-home format obviously makes the risk much greater of the Canadians being upset, particularly if a goalie gets hot. In that case, the Swiss and the Slovaks could easily pull of a stunner on any given day if everything went the right way for them.

I really hope we see the PK from last season and earlier this year.
Interestingly he as the teams best dman last year and early this year….and Eller was the teams go top performing center last year and earlier this year. Both are the same age….both have struggled …not sure what happened but is it a coincidence both are RFA’s? Could the team have pulled Eller from a more offensive role and PK been told to play a little more consevratively to save a some cap dollars and real dollars moving forward? Sorry but I have to wonder….part of me hopes they aren’t doing that…and another part of thinks wow…maybe they are doing that and that would ultimately benefit everyone except PK and Lars….but they will still be quite fine…hmmm

Trust me I would rather see Eller getting top minutes and PK playing a more free game…it jsut seems like they came out of the gates flying and then had their wings clipped. 2 million a year is pretty signifcant and would be the difference in any high end free agent signing IMO. I can’t help but keep coming back to that every time I see Eller line up with PRust and Bourque…or see PK hesitate. In all likelihood it isn’t the case but it sure is food for thought and a case could be made for sure. I can’t say I agree with it…just like I didnt agree with the tank of two seasons ago…but when it happened I was quite ok with it and then supported traing aay as many pieces as possible which facilitated the tank. SO if the HAbs get PK for 7.5 instead of 8.5 for the enxt 7 years and Eller for 3.75 for 4 years instead of 4.75 I would be quite ok with that as it would allow some overspending on a UFA that could help during a very crucial couple of eyars where the young talent is affordable.

No denying the man made mistakes but I would never call Gainey a joke, especially not to his face. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Buffalo before the season opener three years ago. What a gracious man. Very humble, yet cast a big shadow. When I spoke with him he was all business, yet willing to share his time. I have a great photo of two of us, something I will always cherish.

Hockey sense. Some have it some don’t. How many times this year watching the Habs with the pucks lying there or sliding on the ice near the opposition goal and no Hab in sight. Carter right time, right spot and in the net. Not luck, skill reading the play and going to the right spot and converting.